Ngamatapouri and their supporters celebrate winning the Division 2 final at Cooks Gardens on Saturday.
Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri will look towards 2019 with optimism after securing the second championship in their young club's history by overcoming a spirited Black Bull Liquor Pirates 32-20 in the Division 2 final on Saturday.
Whether or not this new concept of having a three division split in the second round continues next season, whereby the bottom two teams from Tasman Tanning Premier are relegated after the first round, Ngamatapouri want to establish themselves amongst the upper echelon sides.
The squad they brought to finals day had more depth in both the starting XV and off the bench than seen earlier in the season.
Meanwhile, Pirates were relying on an old guard of veterans and a handful of promising youth players, and deserve a lot of credit for coming back to take the lead just after halftime, following some early nervous errors which let the favourites score at a point-a-minute in the first quarter.
Trying to work out of their 22m at Cooks Gardens, Pirates coughed up the ball at the breakdown and second-five Timoci 'Jim' Seruwalu just picked it up and jogged off to score the opening try.
Ngamatapouri put up an attacking bomb and standout fullback Sheldon Parkinga-Manhire climbed above the defender to reclaim the ball and make an excellent flick pass inside to Seruwalu to collect in one big hand and race under the posts for 12-0 inside the first ten minutes.
They then defended some rare pressure on their line, before clearing back up field, and when Pirates again lost control of the breakdown ball, Ngamatapouri toed it through to the in-goal, earning a 5m scrum.
First-five Josaia Dawai took the pass and ran a cross field angle find a half-gap at the line and dive over in the tackle.
That galvanised Pirates into action, as from the kickoff they earned a succession of penalties by driving the ball up and quick recycling.
Taking a quick tap close to the line, prop Fa'amanu Pulemagafa drove low with flanker George Foster supporting him to get the ball down at the defenders feet for 19-5.
Parkinga-Manhire was away with a penalty attempt following a strong run by No 8 Bryn Hudson, and Pirates recovered as the backline linked with their No 8 Emile Fanene to break out from half.
Working up through one-off carries, Pirates got close and then spread the ball for winger Joe Leitupo to step through a tackle and score, with halfback Hone Tauna landing the difficult conversion.
It was getting physical as Fanene was penalised for putting an arm up as he ran over Ngamatapouri flanker Kaspa Maraku, who came to the sideline groggy, but after the injury break, Pirates stayed on the offence and made a great blindside sneak play for winger Alex Samasoni to beat two diving tacklers and score in the corner.
Having closed the gap to two points at halftime, Pirates then hit the lead not long after the break as Ngamatapouri were offside on an attacking kick in their own half, letting reserve forward Manulua Lafi land the penalty.
However, Pirates were reduced to 14 when Taurua was sinbinned for a swinging arm, and despite his side defending their man disadvantage for most of his absence, Ngamatapouri eventually got a 37m penalty and Parkinga-Manhire put them back in front 22-20.
Getting a penalty for shepherding in Ngamatapouri's half, Pirates hit the ball up as the defenders infringed repeatedly, but after getting a third penalty in a row, adjacent to the posts, and despite coach Danny Tamahana and his bench yelling to take the kick, Pulemagafa had a rush of blood and tried for another low-drive try, only to be stopped short and penalised for holding.
Off the hook, Ngamatapouri cleared their territory and when they got a penalty on attack, they made no mistake as Parkinga-Manhire booted them five points ahead with 16 minutes left.
Looking for the killer blow, Ngamatapouri stayed on attack, being held up and losing the ball at the tryline, but Pirates couldn't work their way clear.
Trying a set play from a scrum, Seruwalu went wide to winger Simeone Vunitabua, who offloaded for reserve back Ponti Denicaucau to run in at the corner and head back closer to the posts for Parkinga-Manhire's conversion with less than three minutes left.
Victorious captain Russiate Vukula was pleased his team had weathered the storm of Pirates comeback to finish strongly.
"Composure, I think. At halftime that was the word.
"Good building phase for us, obviously our focus is next year and I think we'll do well."
Meanwhile, the last Division 3 game of that round robin was moved from Saturday to a Friday evening game under lights at the Kaierau Country Club, and proved worthy of being considered a true final, as Kelso Hunterville claimed the championship by coming from behind to beat Marist Buffalo's 20-15.
Having closed up to within three points of Hunterville on the table before the last match, the Buffalo's have had no previous success against the traditional heavy hitters of WRFU Senior rugby, which included Hunterville winning their first round game 34-17 on April 13.
However, after Hunterville scored early from an excellent cross kick to the wing, then added a penalty after a Marist player was sinbinned for impeding a kick chaser, the underdogs fought back – literally.
A fight inside Hunterville's 10m zone after a Buffalo's player was hurt saw the game reduced to 14 vs 14, as the offending Hunterville player was sent off, and then bizarrely, so was the still-sinbinned Marist player, who had come from behind the posts to get involved in the melee.
Taking a 5m scrum, Marist scored down the blindside for 8-5, and then stayed on the attack while keeping the ball alive in hand to get their second try in the left-hand corner to take the lead at halftime.
The unlikely seemed like it could become reality after the break, as after getting an attacking scrum, the Buffalo's made hit-up after hit-up, with their sideline support staff claiming a try every time they drove at the line, before finally cracking through to make it 15-8.
At that point, Buffalo's were looking at four points compared to a bonus for Hunterville, leaving them deadlocked on the table, but the country club showed all the experience of having won seven Senior grand finals in the last decade.
They spread the ball wide on a rare attacking chance to get support players free and score a 55m try in the corner, closing the gap to two points.
Then with just a few minutes remaining, Hunterville pounded the Buffalo's line, and the gap finally opened up beside the breakdown for a quick dart through to dive over for a converted try.
Hunterville then tried to seal the match with a penalty kick that missed, but the Buffalo's had nothing left and couldn't get close for a bonus point try, which still could have won them the title with a successful conversion.
Cruelly, after coming so close, the Buffalo's even had to fall back to third on the points table after their loss, as Speirs Food Marton were always going to get five competition points, as it was their turn to receive the Pirates Senior team's default.
Results
Division 2 Final
Ngamatapouri 32 (Timoci Seruwalu 2, Josaia Dawai, Ponti Denicaucau tries; Sheldon Parkinga-Manhire 2 pen, 3 con) bt Pirates 20 (Fa'amanu Pulemagafa, Joe Leitupo, Alex Samasoni tries; Manulua Lafi pen, Hone Taurua con). HT: 19-17.
Division 3
At Kaierau Country Club: Hunterville 20 (Eru Ratana, Matthew Horton, Mitchell Smith tries; James Wilson pen, con) bt Marist Buffalo's 15 (Tim Gudsell, Ben O'Leary, Raponi Tofa tries). HT: 10-5 Marist.
Marton bt Pirates Seniors by default.
Final round robin points: Hunterville 26, Marton 21, Marist Buffalo's 19 (plus 11), Kaierau 19 (plus 6), Counties Brothers 12, Border 5.
The fast-track panel will be ready to work from mid-July.